My approach to horticulture is pretty basic. It begins with a trip to WalMart to buy all-purpose potting soil and some inexpensive plastic pots, followed by a trip to my favorite local nursery for some already flowering plants. I pour the soil into the pots and hanging baskets, make some indentations in the soil, plop in the plant, tamp down the soil around the plant, water – and voila! – I’m done here.

Don’t talk to me about seeds, seedlings, germinating, fertilizing, plant food, pruning, pinching, bulbs, hybrids, annuals versus perennials – that’s all WAAAY out of my league. My gardening style is comparable to my cooking style – someone else makes it from scratch, markets it as fresh or frozen – I buy it, microwave it and eat it – preferably in its throw-away container so there are no dishes to wash. I’m a minimalist when it comes to plant and food preparation.

Growing up, I lived in a house with a big yard and my mother was an avid gardener with The Touch. She touched it; it not only grew, but flourished. She found immense joy and satisfaction in planting, pruning, and puttering with her plants, bushes, trees, and flowers from daylight to dusk.

Me, I’ve lived in apartments my entire adult life and never had a yard of my own. In truth, I’d rather spend my summer leisure time (all 15 minutes a day) curled up with a good book in air conditioned comfort, rather than melting under the hot sun with bees and flies dive bombing my head and ants crawling up my legs. I’m just not into bugs and actively dislike bees – but cats seem to enjoy the little beasties, if in a somewhat sadistic, chase and destroy manner. I asked The Raz (senior spokescat of The Fab Five) about this, but he merely gave me a superior look that indicated he wasn’t going to waste his time explaining this to a mere human. Given that’s his response more often than not regardless of the question, I wasn’t surprised…

In spite of myself though, I’ve had some success with the plants I’ve haphazardly thrown together in pots on my balcony. A few years ago, I decided to test my limited skills by planting flowers the diana-method in our rescue cats’ outdoor enclosure – my “adopted” yard. There were two strong motivators for doing this. One, after a typically long, cold, gloomy Maryland winter and soggy, muddy spring, several months of colorful, cheerful blooms seemed like a good morale booster for our volunteers (well, at least THIS volunteer!) and would attract insects to entertain our cats awaiting adoptions. Two, it seemed a cool way for me to honor my late mom – I begin enclosure planting on Mother’s Day weekend each year.

Somewhat to my surprise, I found that I actually ENJOY this bizarre exercise that results in sweat-soaked hair and dirt-encrusted fingernails, and despite the annoying presence of critters who buzz, bite, crawl, creep, or sting. To my credit, I DO like butterflies, moths, caterpillars, lady bugs, and, uh… hmmm… okay, so it’s a short list. Oh wait! I like fireflies too.

After a few years now of indulging in my new Mother’s Day tradition, my simplistic method remains the same, though I do seem to improve a bit each year, learning from past experience as to what works in the enclosure and what doesn’t. As well as trying out different (cat safe) plants each season, I usually have a fresh generation of feline gardening assistants. One constant is cats’ fascination with humans digging and playing in the dirt – sort of like, “WOW, you’re into the dirt thing too, huh? Cool!” They seem to enjoy the flowers, but I believe they like the natural weeds, grasses, and potting soil better. They’d no doubt be quite content if I just filled the containers with soil and left it at that.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of various feline gardening buddies I’ve taken over the years. If you have any pictures of your own furry ones in your garden you’d like to share with Catnip Chronicles readers, what are you waiting for? Send ‘em in!

Visit The Fab Five and diana at http://www.geocities.com/newagecatcare. diana is a pet sitter in Carroll County, MD; Vice President of the Howard County Cat Club, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill cat rescue/adoption agency http://www.howardcountycatclub.org; freelance pet photographer, and Catnip Chronicles columnist and consultant.